Since 2001 Drew University has hosted the Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium, a conference which gathers renowned scholars from a stunning breadth of scholarly disciplines to engage in theoretical conversation and theological construction which is at once self-deconstructive in its pluralism and constructive in its affirmations. This conference epitomizes Drew’s unique approach to religious scholarship, an approach that emerges from the complexity of the contemporary contexts theology must consider.

The thirteenth colloquium in the series, titled “Entangled Worlds: Science, Religion, Materiality” and scheduled for March 28-30, will consider ways in which theological and religious studies intersect new scientific stories of relationality, such as those of quantum entanglement and neuroscience. Beyond the mere dualism of science versus religion, this conference intends to coax a vibrant synthesis of theories and theologies of relationality that are resistant to both anthropocentric and reductive modernisms and that intensify attention to the fragile bodies of our creaturely interdependence. The conference aims to move beyond previous science vs. religion debates through engaging with the high-profile interdisciplinary synthesis of critical theory and scientific inquiry known as the “new materialism.” Two of the leading figures associated with the new materialism, Karen Barad, author of Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, and Jane Bennett, author of Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things, will participate in the conference.